The art of fugue: Contrapunctus V, VI, VII (Koopman, Mathot)The art of fugue BWV 1080Counter-fugues, in which a variation of the main subject is used in both regular and inverted formContrapunctus VContrapunctus VI, a 4 in S...

Saturday, October 18, 2008

"The researchers found that a “dose of nature” worked as well or better than a dose of medication on the child’s ability to concentrate. What’s not clear is how long the nature effect can last." Read the full NY Times article HERE.

Well, isn't this interesting? No wonder we have so many medicated kids out there. God's creation is not only enjoyable but being out there is healthy too! Too many kids live incubated lives. Go to school, go home, watch tv, go to bed... repeat the next morning.

Just another GREAT reason to enjoy homeschooling and to get out and enjoy the outdoors.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

I am going to attempt to get caught up on the Homeschool Memoirs posts, but beyond that I do not even aspire to daily blogging for now.Our life is just SO full. I would apologize for not having blogged for some time, but I don't want to be always apologizing, since I know that this is not the last time that some time will pass between posts. As I was telling a friend recently, my blog exists to serve me, not the reverse.

So, here I am. I have about 2,546 post ideas swirling about in my head and no time for writing them all down.

If I can get myself on a routine of sorts for awhile, it may be possible to establish regular blogging time. But as it is, I just have too much going, and there is nothing in my life right now that can give so that I might maintain a well-read blog.

After the memoirs, I think the first thing that I will attempt to write will be on nature study. We are beginning this wonderful subject again, after having taken a lengthy hiatus. We will use Outdoor Hour Challenges found here and Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study. We started with the first challenge (which was sadly disappointing), which I will blog about soon.

Next, in my ample spare time, I want to write on the subject of habit forming... as I have previously mentioned. But since my abundant spare time is occupied cleaning this huge house, cooking 3 meals a day, backing up my awesome husband, teaching my wonderful children,and doing ministry... that subject will be left to marinate until further notice :)

We are always doing different things. We are so portable, so flexible, so adaptable that we're not all that regular! We do certain subjects in the same places (sometimes), but we don't stay in the same place all day, nor do we seem to spend more time in one place than another! whoa, we're weird!

We usually do math at the table all together (but not always... heheh :).

We do read alouds wherever we feel like it: on the couch, in the car, on a bed, at the table, or near the closest outlet if the laptop needs charging :)

The boys do their copywork/math, anything that requires writing at their desks or up in the office where it's quiet. They can't seem to concentrate on these subjects if there's even the tiniest noise.

We actually have an official schoolroom, but basically it only serves the purpose of housing all of our learning materials, because not much school actually takes place in there.

So there's not a favorite study spot really... except I must add that we LOVE that we study at home or at the park or in the car or wherever it may be and that NOT at a school!

Okay, snacking is not going to be a regular subject on this blog, and that's because, I don't think it's that interesting of a subject. Besides the fact that we don't really snack around here. Oh, don't get me wrong, we love to eat, but we discourage snacking between meals. When we snack inevitably, it seems we don't eat our meals or we become picky and don't eat all of our meals... I'm sure you know what I mean. And living here in Peru there just aren't as many snack-y things available. Unless I make them from scratch... and I don't have much time for that :)

This week we are invited to share a few of our favourite things - er - sites. The list of favourite things could be never-ending... Just copy this list and add your favorites underneath the appropriate category.

Magazines/Carnivals - In the homeschool category, I enjoy the CM blog carnival, Heart of the Matter, The Old Schoolhouse magazine. If we're talking non-homeschool, I like Better Homes and Gardens and Family Fun magazines the most!

Freebie sites - I LOVE librivox.org, and I also frequent Currclick.com and homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com when the freebie is something I think we might use. I also subscribe to scrapgirls.com weekly newsletters where they give away free digiscrap stuff.

Homeschool news/informative - As for news, I'm totally out of the loop. For information, I read blogs, and subscribe to yahoo groups applicable to my CM style.

Forums/book clubs - same as above

Networking, Blog “About” (sites that offer tech-support or tutorials for computer/internet) & Quick Links - no time for that these days :)

Mom site - a sites just for moms

Inspirational/encouraging/motivational - holyexperience.com is super inspirational to me, along with my friends' blogs.

Youth/kid - sites geared towards youth/kids or owned by them

Memes - Homeschool Memoirs, Heart of the Matter, Simple Woman's Daybook, My Husband Rocks and Thursday Thirteen are some of the meme's I have participated in with varying regularity.

Organizing/crafts - sites that you look to for organizing tips or crafts - Familyfun.com, Simplemom.net - I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this site!!

Family blog - sites that give you a glimpse into another family’s life, run by a family - I sometimes go to titus2.com

Businesses, particularly homebased - no time... :)

All this must be tempered with the realization that I really have no time to look at all this stuff regularly. If I do, I'm sacrificing time with my kids/husband or my home gets messy. I really can't afford much time online at all. So, there you have it :)

Monday, October 13, 2008

Well, there are a number of reasons why I'm NOT going to write a post for this week's meme. One is, it's not summer here in Peru :) The other is that we school year-round so even if it were summer, we wouldn't be doing summer like most people ;)

But I am going to give you a link to my photo essay on our trip to the jungle that did happen during y'alls' North American summer. It even felt like summer there since it was SO hot.

So here you are: (go to the link below for more pictures)

http://fisheracademy.blogspot.com/2008/09/jungle-school.html

1. Siah eating a itty-bitty banana for snack on the way... 20 hours driving - one way! woohoo!2. Grill found in open market with fish (Lisa) displayed on a leaf for a plate; grilled banana slices; and I can't remember what all else... probably chicken foot shish-ka-bobs ;)3. Cull posing in the ice cream store (where we spent a good amount of time).4. Jungle beauty on the church's campground property.5. Cool thatch roof. Micah wants to build a house with a roof like this someday... uh, well, okay.6. My guys dreaming of river ministry... or swimming, or riding on motorboats... or something.7. Amazing sunset in approaching storm clouds.8. River Boat. Micah will spend a lot of time on a boat like this if we move to the jungle. He wants to regularly visit the really small villages along the river to encourage & teach the believers.